After having done my semester abroad, I've come to the conclusion that attending school in another country, english speaking or not, will always be difficult. Many people think that because their exchange school teaches in the same language their taught in then everything should be fine. But no, the language may be the same but the usage is different. Just like how from state to state we are able to hear different slangs, pronunciations, and means; here in Hong Kong its the same way only magnified ten thousand times.
Something I'm still trying to get used to here is the grammar and sentence structures used by students and professors. The Chinese language does not posses any past, present, future tense so words like "Do, doing, did" are almost never used properly in a sentence. Also in papers and such a student may want to use the word "Potential" but instead uses "Potency" thinking its just another form of potential. These may seem like very little problems at first but when you're sitting in class week after week listening to your professor lecture about a subject your not too familiar with using a language that he/she is not properly speaking then it becomes a huge problem.
Overall, my tip for the soon to be traveler is:
Finals week at CityU and I think most other universities in Hong Kong are two weeks long with a study break that is one week long. This can be something good for the diligent student I tried to be or something bad for the procrastinator that I am.
Many of my finals this semester consists of MC questions and short answer questions. This is definitely something I'm not used to as at UH our finals are usually just MC and True/False questions.
I've just taken my first and hardest, of four, final this past Tuesday; it was for my financial management course, a class that all business majors had to take. On the day of the exam we were all placed in a gym where a bunch of desks and chairs were set up in completely straight rows, there were about 8 proctors present, and over 100 students waiting to meet their doom. Finals at CityU were very official, the start and end times were very precise, we had an answer booklet for us to do the problems in, and there was a cover page where we had to write down our seat number and the type of calculator we used. Throughout the test proctors were walking around to make sure no one was cheating and to check our IDs to see that the right person was in the right seat taking the right test.
Overall Schooling and Education
Students here have grown up using Cantonese as a median of communication between their parents and friends. In school they are usually taught in Chinese with one or two classes taught in and about the English Language. So overall, if your trying to get from point A to point B using english in Hong Kong its fine. However when it comes to group projects, class discussions, and asking questions I always have to make sure to use words and/or phrases that they would understand.Something I'm still trying to get used to here is the grammar and sentence structures used by students and professors. The Chinese language does not posses any past, present, future tense so words like "Do, doing, did" are almost never used properly in a sentence. Also in papers and such a student may want to use the word "Potential" but instead uses "Potency" thinking its just another form of potential. These may seem like very little problems at first but when you're sitting in class week after week listening to your professor lecture about a subject your not too familiar with using a language that he/she is not properly speaking then it becomes a huge problem.
Overall, my tip for the soon to be traveler is:
- Take classes that you feel confident in, classes that are in your speciality that way you won't have to struggle with learning something completely new
- Don't take too many courses cause then there won't be anytime for fun
- If possible ask some locals about which professors are good, which are bad during the first week of school that way you still have time to switch classes if you ended up with a bad one
- Be prepared to be the spokesperson during presentations and class discussions because your english will probably be the best of the group
- The faster you do your homework the faster you'll be able to have fun, don't procrastinate leaving everything till the end because that's when you'll really want to hang with your friends before they leave
Midterms
Midterms turned out to be less painful than I thought they would be and if you're lucky, you may have no midterms at all.
I had two midterms this semester, one in Financial Management and one in Hospitality Management. They were both worth only 10% of my grade so if I tanked them, which I kind of did, it wouldn't affect my overall grade too much.
Midterms here are usually multiple choice (MC) questions. For my Hospitality Management midterm we had to answer 50 MC questions with a 60 minute time limitation. This was something I was definitely NOT prepared for because at UH we are usually given ample time to complete a test. Also 50 MC questions for 60 minutes isn't that bad if the test isn't too wordy, but this test was! Some of the questions were two to three sentences long and for some questions all the choices from A-E were one to two sentences long. Many students, myself included, didn't do too well on the test because we were not only fighting against the test but we were also fighting against time; and obviously time won.
I had two midterms this semester, one in Financial Management and one in Hospitality Management. They were both worth only 10% of my grade so if I tanked them, which I kind of did, it wouldn't affect my overall grade too much.
Midterms here are usually multiple choice (MC) questions. For my Hospitality Management midterm we had to answer 50 MC questions with a 60 minute time limitation. This was something I was definitely NOT prepared for because at UH we are usually given ample time to complete a test. Also 50 MC questions for 60 minutes isn't that bad if the test isn't too wordy, but this test was! Some of the questions were two to three sentences long and for some questions all the choices from A-E were one to two sentences long. Many students, myself included, didn't do too well on the test because we were not only fighting against the test but we were also fighting against time; and obviously time won.
Finals
Many of my finals this semester consists of MC questions and short answer questions. This is definitely something I'm not used to as at UH our finals are usually just MC and True/False questions.
I've just taken my first and hardest, of four, final this past Tuesday; it was for my financial management course, a class that all business majors had to take. On the day of the exam we were all placed in a gym where a bunch of desks and chairs were set up in completely straight rows, there were about 8 proctors present, and over 100 students waiting to meet their doom. Finals at CityU were very official, the start and end times were very precise, we had an answer booklet for us to do the problems in, and there was a cover page where we had to write down our seat number and the type of calculator we used. Throughout the test proctors were walking around to make sure no one was cheating and to check our IDs to see that the right person was in the right seat taking the right test.
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